Les Misérables, v. 1/5: Fantine
Page 47
CHAPTER VI.
FATHER FAUCHELEVENT.
When M. Madeleine was passing one morning through an unpaved lanein the town, he heard a noise and saw a group at some distance, towhich he walked up. An old man, known as Father Fauchelevent, hadfallen under his cart, and his horse was lying on the ground. ThisFauchelevent was one of the few enemies M. Madeleine still had at thistime. When Madeleine came to these parts, Fauchelevent, a tolerablywell-educated peasant, was doing badly in business; and he saw thesimple workman grow rich, while he, a master, was being ruined. Thisfilled him with jealousy, and he had done all in his power, on everypossible occasion, to injure Madeleine. Then bankruptcy came, and inhis old days, having only a horse and cart left, and no family, heturned carter to earn a living.
The horse had both legs broken and could not get up, while the old manwas entangled between the wheels. The fall had been so unfortunate,that the whole weight of the cart was pressing on his chest, andit was heavily loaded. Fauchelevent uttered lamentable groans, andattempts had been made, though in vain, to draw him out; any irregulareffort, any clumsy help or shock, might kill him. It was impossible toextricate him except by raising the cart from below, and Javert, whocame up at the moment of the accident, had sent to fetch a jack. WhenM. Madeleine approached, the mob made way respectfully.
"Help!" old Fauchelevent cried; "is there no good soul who will save anold man?"
M. Madeleine turned to the spectators.
"Have you a jack?"
"They have gone to fetch one," a peasant answered.
"How soon will it be here?"
"Well, the nearest is at Flachot the blacksmith's, but it cannot bebrought here under a good quarter of an hour."
"A quarter of an hour!" Madeleine exclaimed.
It had rained on the previous night, the ground was soft, the cart sunkdeeper into it every moment, and more and more pressed the old man'schest. It was evident that his ribs would be broken within five minutes.
"It is impossible to wait a quarter of an hour," said M. Madeleine tothe peasants who were looking on.
"We must."
"But do you not see that the cart is sinking into the ground?"
"Hang it! so it is."
"Listen to me," Madeleine continued; "there is still room enough fora man to slip under the cart and raise it with his back. It will onlytake half a minute, and the poor man can be drawn out. Is there any onehere who has strong loins? There are five louis to be earned."
No one stirred.
"Ten louis," Madeleine said.
His hearers looked down, and one of them muttered, "A man would have tobe deucedly strong, and, besides, he would run a risk of being smashed."
"Come," Madeleine began again, "twenty louis." The same silence.
"It is not the good-will they are deficient in," a voice cried.
M. Madeleine turned and recognized Javert: he had noticed him when hecame up. Javert continued,--
"It is the strength. A man would have to be tremendously strong to lifta cart like that with his back."
Then, looking fixedly at M. Madeleine, he continued, laying a markedstress on every word he uttered,--
"Monsieur Madeleine, I never knew but _one_ man capable of doing whatyou ask."
Madeleine started, but Javert continued carelessly, though withouttaking his eyes off Madeleine,--
"He was a galley-slave."
"Indeed!" said Madeleine.
"At the Toulon Bagne."
Madeleine turned pale; all this while the cart was slowly settlingdown, and Father Fauchelevent was screaming,--
"I am choking: it is breaking my ribs: a jack! something--oh!"
Madeleine looked around him.
"Is there no one here willing to earn twenty louis and save this poorold man's life?"
No one stirred, and Javert repeated,--
"I never knew but one man capable of acting as a jack, and it was thatconvict."
"Oh, it is crushing me!" the old man yelled.
Madeleine raised his head, met Javert's falcon eye still fixed on him,gazed at the peasants, and sighed sorrowfully. Then, without sayinga word, he fell on his knees, and, ere the crowd had time to utter acry, was under the cart. There was a frightful moment of expectationand silence. Madeleine almost lying flat under the tremendous weight,twice tried in vain to bring his elbows up to his knees. The peasantsshouted: "Father Madeleine, come out!" And old Fauchelevent himselfsaid: "Monsieur Madeleine, go away! I must die, so leave me; you willbe killed too."
Madeleine made no answer; the spectators gasped; the wheels had sunkdeeper, and it was now almost impossible for him to get out from underthe cart. All at once the enormous mass shook, the cart slowly rose,and the wheels half emerged from the rut. A stifled voice could beheard crying, "Make haste, help!" It was Madeleine, who had made a lasteffort. They rushed forward, for the devotion of one man had restoredstrength and courage to all. The cart was lifted by twenty arms, andold Fauchelevent was saved. Madeleine rose; he was livid, althoughdripping with perspiration: his clothes were torn and covered withmud. The old man kissed his knees, and called him his savior, whileMadeleine had on his face a strange expression of happy and celestialsuffering, and turned his placid eye on Javert, who was still lookingat him.
FATHER FAUCHELEVENT.]